Bridgestone Golf Collegiate Team Logo Hats

Written by: Tony Korologos | Thursday, September 18th, 2014
Categories: Golf Accessories • Golf Apparel • Golf For Women • Golf Gear • Reviews
Tags: Bridgestone Golf

I’ll admit it. I can be bought. Send me a golf product with a Utah Utes logo on it and you are guaranteed airtime.

I’m doing a hat review today. Yes some very hard-hitting, groundbreaking golf journalism. Today’s hat is the new Bridgestone Golf collegiate team logo hat. Bridgestone Golf has been offering college logo golf balls for a while and these hats make a great match.

Bridgestone Golf hat with Utes logo = beautiful!

These adjustable hats are made from 100% washed cotton twill so they’re very comfortable and have a nice relaxed fit. The college team logo (preferably a Utes logo) is embroidered in a 3D effect which looks great. The side of the cap features a Bridgestone Golf logo for those of us who like to show our team colors and our golf colors at the same time.

There are currently 29 teams available for the Bridgestone Collegiate Caps: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Auburn, Boise State, Clemson, Connecticut, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Kansas, Louisville, Louisiana State, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oregon State, Penn State, South Carolina, Stanford, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Utah, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Wisconsin.

Retail price on these hats is $30.

Conclusion

College logo hats are a great addition and possible new revenue for golf shops in college towns. My local pro-shop sells the hell out of Utah hats which are made by another golf company. Now they can offer another selection from Bridgestone Golf and you can be sure I’ll be letting the merchandise manager know about them!

14 Clubs

Written by: Tony Korologos | Wednesday, September 17th, 2014
Categories: Golf • Golf Clubs • Golf Equipment • Golf Gear

WITB – Tony Korologos 2014 River Oaks Club Champion

Are 14 Clubs Really Necessary?

The last two times I’ve played golf in Scotland I’ve realized that over there a few clubs are simply not necessary. First, the lob wedge. The ground is SO hard that hitting the lob is very difficult. The hard ground and wind really call for low running shots. In six days of golf at 36 holes per day, I hit my lob wedge twice and both times it was the wrong choice. The next time I play true links golf over there I’m bringing a pencil bag and maybe 8-10 clubs.

At home I could easily take out a club or two without missing them. I hit my 3-fairway no more than 1-2 times per round. In yesterday’s league round I didn’t hit it at all. I could easily take out the 5-iron or one long iron. I could take out one of my four wedges, probably the gap wedge.

4-Club Tournament

As club president of my league for many years, we would do a yearly 4-club tournament. This is a tournament where the players were only allowed, you guessed it, four clubs. I usually picked a hybrid, 7-iron, sand wedge, and putter or some setup similar.

At the conclusion of the tournament I would notice the scores and something very interesting. The scores were most often the same. A 12 handicap player who normally shot 84-85 with 14 clubs shot 84-85 with four clubs. I noticed the same for my own scores. Not much different.

15 Clubs

My weekly money game is a fun competition between low single digit handicappers. We usually play with 14 clubs, but if someone wants to test a driver or putter we don’t have a problem with them having 15 clubs in the bag. In the end, it makes virtually no difference in the scores, or who wins the money.

Marketing

The folks at Golfplan posted a discussion about the 14 club limit and whether or not it is too much. Perhaps we can use less clubs and still shoot the same scores and enjoy the game just as much. But golf equipment companies would not be too hip on that. In fact, I bet they’d rather see a 20 club limit or perhaps no limit at all. Anything to sell more clubs.

Clubbing Based On Location and Conditions

I usually have the same 14 clubs in the bag at all times. I’m used to them and used to the setup. PGA Tour pros change clubs for nearly every event. Phil Mickelson used two drivers in the Masters Tournament a few years ago. And tour pros have many different wedge configurations, or even have their wedges custom bent or ground to specs which are best for the course and conditions they are playing that week.

Need Some Fresh Golf Tips? Try Your Horoscope

Written by: Tony Korologos | Tuesday, September 16th, 2014
Categories: Golf • Miscellaneous

I was thumbing through the newspaper at lunch today. For those who don’t know, a newspaper is a big piece of paper with news printed on it. I haven’t read a horoscope in years, but happened onto it so I checked mine (Libra).

“A problem is likely to occur when you become too immersed in an issue.”

Woa. I couldn’t help thinking they were talking about my short game. Perhaps I’m over thinking my short game? Too immersed? Maybe I should relax and let it flow, rather than being so hyper focused on it?

I decided I should check out the other horoscopes and that’s when I realized that this set from Jacqueline Bigar was 90% usable for the golf world if I just used the last sentence of each one. My golf interjections are in (parentheses).

Aries

As the day goes on, you might need some time to tackle a problem (with your putting).

Taurus

Act quickly and ask questions (to your golf instructor).

Gemini

You might feel confused (because this damn game is hard!).

Cancer

You’ll have the energy and right attitude to get past any problems (with your greens in regulation).

Leo

You will have no choice but to deal with the issue (of the yips).

Virgo

You might decide to go out on your own (for nine more holes).

Libra

A problem is likely to occur when you become too immersed in an issue (like your short game).

Scorpio

Your ability to see past the obvious defines a situation. (No way around it. You are a hack)

Sagittarius

Stop resisting, and be open to the process. (Tiger Woods…. “its a process’).

Capricorn

Consider your options, and decide not to fight what the majority wants. (Get in the skins game you pussy!)

Aquarius

You might decide that you have had enough and head in a different direction. (Time to take up bowling as a hobby)

Pisces

Your caring toward a loved one won’t go unnoticed. (Said the golf gods. Thanks SO much for replacing your divots, raking the bunkers, and fixing your ball marks!)

Requesting Your Opinion on Golf Blog Advertising

Written by: Tony Korologos | Tuesday, September 16th, 2014
Categories: Miscellaneous • Site News

“Drive for show. Putt for dough, son.”

When I started this blog back in 2004 it was entirely for my love of the game. HOG was intended to be and still is a great outlet for commentary on everything from golf course architecture to equipment to solving the shanks.

As the blog grew the overhead grew with it. Overhead would be hosting expenses, travel expenses (PGA Merchandise Show etc), and so on. I was actually kicked off many shared servers because the site sucked up all the bandwidth. As a result, I had to get my own dedicated server which is considerably more expensive. Because of operational costs like the dedicated server, I started taking on ads to offset the costs.

Despite the site’s visitors and readers increasing every year since it began, ad revenue has dropped, big. I’m talking 80-90%. Why? Part of the reason is the decline in the golf industry, but a large reason is Google. Google changes their search algorithms and/or policies and that has a big effect on ad revenue. One type of ad may become taboo, like text links. Text links used to be a nice revenue source for a few years. Recently however, I’ve actually had golf companies who paid for months or years in advance email and ask to have their links removed because changes in Google’s algo means those links hurt them more then helping them.

The net result is that I’ve cancelled all text link ads. Google ads are still producing, but at 1/10 of what they did two years ago. As a single, independent blogger without the budget or SEO team large golf sites have, I can’t spend all my time trying to figure out the latest change in advertising and search algorithms.

I’ve thought of cancelling all ads entirely but that would mean I’d be operating in a hole. Well, I should say more of a hole.

Over the years I’ve declined hundreds of requests for online casino or gambling ads. I’ve also declined paid post types of ads. I still receive many requests for these types of ads and can’t help thinking that my Google revenue is nearly worthless as it is so why not try them for a time and see what happens?

So I pose these questions:

Would an online casino, sports betting, or gambling type of ad turn you away or diminish your opinion of the website?
Would an occasional and clearly marked “advertorial” post turn you away or diminish your opinion of the website?

I have every intention of keeping HOG up and running for many years to come. An activity which takes up so much of my time which could be spent with my family or actually playing golf should cover its own costs and hopefully produce some fruit. The golf gods know I’ve been sewing seeds for years.

HOG World Tour Visits Greg Norman’s Sandals Emerald Reef Golf Course in Exuma, Bahamas

Written by: Tony Korologos | Tuesday, September 16th, 2014
Categories: Golf • Golf Course Architecture • Golf Courses • Golf For Women • HOG World Tour
Tags: Bahamas • Golf Travel • Greg Norman • Sandals Resorts

While staying at the fabulous Sandals Emerald Bay all-inclusive resort last week, I spent a couple of days on the Greg Norman designed Emerald Reef Golf Course. I’ve just uploaded a batch of photos of the course to the new HOG Emerald Reef photo gallery for you to check out.

Par-4 14th Green – click for more

I even captured a couple of photos with my small aerial photo/video multirotor quadcopter (also known as a drone) as you can see in the photo below. The lighting wasn’t great due to stormy weather, so the drone pictures aren’t as good as they could be.